Admiral Thierry d’Argenlieu was responsible for the adoption of the cross by Free France in 1940. He wrote to de Gaulle that the Free French needed their own cross to stand against the Nazi swastika. In his general order of 3 July 1940, the day after his appointment as commander of the Free French naval and air forces, Vice-Admiral Emile Muselier (1882-1965), created an emblem for the French forces rallied to de Gaulle in the form of a bowsprit flag (a blue square with a red cross of Lorraine in the centre, in opposition to the swastika) for the naval vessels and, for the Free French aircraft, a roundel featuring the Lorraine cross.

Emile Henry Muselier

Emile Henry Muselier (Marseilles, 17 April 1882 – Toulon, 2 September 1965) was a French admiral who led the Free French Naval Forces (Forces navales françaises libres, or FNFL) during World War II. He was responsible for the idea of distinguishing his fleet from that of VichyFrance by adopting the Cross of Lorraine, which later became the emblem of all of the Free French. After entering the FrenchNavalAcademy (École Navale) in 1899, he embarked on a brilliant and eventful military career. He ran unsuccessfully in the legislative elections of 1946 as vice-president of the Rally of Republican Lefts (Rassemblement des gauches républicaines), and then entered private life as a consulting engineer before his retirement in 1960. He is buried in the cemetery of St. Pierre, at Marseilles.

Flag of Admiral Muselier

The flag was vertically hoisted in his office in London and could also be used on board. Its most probable size was 0.9 m x 0.9 m. The flag has a dark blue field with a red cross of Lorraine and the worlds HONNEUR and PATRIE, in gold letters, flanking the cross.

This particular piece is a rimmed salad plate. It has an ivory background with fruit urns, a yellow band and blue scrolls. Some fruit in the urns is raised in a moriage style, done with enamel as opposed to clay, for added beauty.

Marked on bottom of plate with a crown over the oval which holds the words “Royal Crown, Myott’s” and with Staffordshire England” below it.

Hutschenreuther – Hohenberg

Germany – Bavaria

Founded in 1814

Present Founder: Carl Magnus Hutschenreuther

This factory was set up by Carl Magnus Hutschenreuther, a porcelain painter previously working at the Wallendorf factory. After his death in 1845 the factory was lead bay his widow, Frau Johanna Hutschenreuther and sons. From 1860 they produced luxurious and gilded porcelains with careful hand painting. A large part of the works was destroyed by fire in 1848. Even today the “Porzellanfabrik” C.M. Hutschenreuter is one of the greates porcelain factories in Germany. The firm of L.Hutschenreuther at Selb Bavaria was founded by Carl’s sons Lorenz and Christian around 1856. The mark for C.M. Hutschenreuther is a shield with a crown over it and the initials JHR Hutschenreuther Selb as well as the lion mark. In the early part of the 20th century, Hutschenreuther grew quickly by absorbing factories at Altrohlau (1909), Arzburg (1918 ) and Tirschenreuth (1927). The branches of the company were united in 1969. Hutschenreuther was a trendsetter and enabled Germany to gain a excellent reputation in the European china industry. The Hutschenreuther “mark of the Lion” is a symbol of excellence that continues to this day. It is now known as Hutschenreuther AG.

This ornate Pair of French porcelain plates is decorated with delicate hand paintedfloral bouquets on a white background framed in giltscrollwork.

Signed: J.Roux and J.Ripat

The Limoges Porcelain

Limoges porcelain designates hard-paste porcelain produced by factories round the city of Limoges, France from the late 1700s until around 1930.

The manufacturing of hard-paste porcelain at Limoges, following the discovery of local supplies of kaolin, was established by Turgot in 1771 and placed under the patronage of the comte d’Artois, brother of Louis XVI. Limoges had been the site of a minor industry producing plain faience earthenwares since the 1730s, but the first identified French source of kaolin and a material similar to petuntse, the ingredients used for the production of hard-paste porcelain similar to Chinese porcelain, were discovered at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, near Limoges, in an economically distressed area, and began to be quarried in 1768. The manufactory was purchased by the king in 1784, apparently with the idea of producing hard-paste bodies for decoration at Sèvres, a venture that did not work out.

After the Revolution a number of private factories were established at Limoges, the chief of which was and remains Haviland. “Limoges porcelain” is a generic term for porcelain produced in Limoges rather than the production of a specific factory. Limoges maintains the position it established in the nineteenth century as the premier manufacturing city of porcelain in France.

The history of porcelain production in Sitzendorf is hardly a straight-forward tale.The first porcelain manufactory in Sitzendorf was established by Georg Heinrich Macheleidt in 1760, under the commission of prince Johann Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.In 1762 the manufactory was moved to Volkstedt by order of the prince.A second factory was opened by Wilhelm Liebmann in 1850, destroyed by a fire eight years later, and built up again in the following year.In 1884 the Sitzendorf porcelain factory, under the chairmanship of Alfred and Carl Wilhelm Voigt, began the production of lace “Dresden style” figurines.In 1890 another branch of the factory was opened in Unterweissbach, producing similar high-quality porcelain figures and figural groups. Throughout these periods, there existed two principal styles of Sitzendorf Porcelain Marks. Despite continual economic hardship fueled by wars and world economic depressions, and the failure of the Unterweissbach factory in 1928, the Sitzendorf porcelain factory continues to operate to this day.